From on Board Crew Member worth a read if you missed the post.
Volvo race website.
December 14
Corinna Halloran
OBR, Team SCA
Go
Today began with a beautiful sunrise as we travelled through the Hormuz Straits. The day will end with hugs from loved ones when we [finally] arrive in Abu Dhabi after 27 days at sea.
Today is a bittersweet day filled with relief, excitement, curiosity, determination, anticipation, and a twinge of sadness. Today is the last day of Leg 2.
"It's a bit frustrating to do all this preparation to just follow the other boats and not really race them," Elodie said. "I hope we'll be able to race the other boats next time."
We are here to race not to watch. We are here to lead not to follow. Yes, we are paving a road for the future of everyday women who dare to dream big, but we are also competitive athletes and coming in last, regardless, is always tough.
Even though a lot of weather luck played into this leg, we're still blaming ourselves for mistakes we believe cost us the race. That's the nature of being an athlete and the nature of living in a 65ft bubble.
"It's been a tough leg, especially weather wise so it's a good thing it's coming to an end," Dee said. "Let's hope we deliver better on Leg 3. We start well, we just need to maintain that."
We are determined to grow from our mistakes and take the time in the next two and a half weeks to really fix them. Immediately following our finish we will eat (something fresh), unpack the boat, shower and rest, and then debrief with our coaching staff.
This debrief might possibly be the most important debrief to date, as we now fully understand the complexities of the race and the other teams. We will analyse, in detail, our strengths and weakness in order to capitalize on our strengths and remedy our weaknesses for future legs.
We are frustrated because we know we can do better. However, this is a leap in the correct direction! If we were convinced we were at the top of our game, we'd almost be fooling ourselves.
Just reflecting back on six months ago when we sailed the 'Round Canary Island Race', we are virtually a different team than we were then. We've become more confident with handling ourselves as well as ourselves against the others.
So today is a bittersweet day for the team as we finally end Leg 2, an extremely tough leg for the team but one that will nonetheless make us a stronger team and stronger sailors.
However our curiosity is sparked and we're all incredibly eager to begin Leg 3 and really show the fleet what we've got!
Who she is:
Halloran has a degree in photojournalism and writing, and a professional certificate in visual storytelling. She is a sailor too - the young American worked on super yachts and travelled to many places on that job.
What she said: "Sailing is in my blood; my grandfather and mother were big sailors in Annapolis, Maryland, and sailing is how my mother arrived in Newport. I love the ocean and sailing but I did not grow up racing dinghies in the Bay. Instead, I grew up with a camera in my hand."